Child safe freezer

ABSTRACT

A FREEZER CABINET INCLUDING MAGNETIC LATCHING MEANS FOR NORMALLY MAINTAINING THE FREEZER DOOR IN A CLOSED POSITION AND LOCKING MEANS ADAPTED TO PERMIT PARTIAL OPENING OF THE LOCKED DOOR TO PROVIDE VENTILATION OF THE CABINET INTERIOR WHILE PREVENTING ACCESS TO THE CONTENTS OF THE CABINET. MEANS MAY ALSO BE PROVIDED FOR HOLDING THE LOCKED DOOR IN THE PARTIALLY OPEN POSITION. AN ALARM DEVICE CAN ALSO BE EMPLOYED TO INDICATE THAT THE LOCKED DOOR IS PARTIALLY OPEN.

Nov. 23, 1971 J HORVAY ETAL 3,621,684

CHILD SAFE FREEZER Filed Feb. 9, 1970 INVENTORS BERNARD I GRIMM &:ru1 \us B. HoRvAV THE"? 11 ORNEY United States Patent Office 3,621,684 Patented Nov. 23, i971 3,621,684 CHILD SAFE FREEZER Julius B. Horvay and Bernard J. Grimm, Louisville, Ky., assignors to General Electric Company Filed Feb. 9, 1970, Ser. No. 9,860 Int. Cl. E051) 65/06; Ec 17/12 U.S. Cl. 70-93 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A freezer cabinet including magnetic latching means for normally maintaining the freezer door in a closed position and locking means adapted to permit partial opening of the locked door to provide ventilation of the cabinet interior while preventing access to the contents of the cabinet. Means may also be provided for holding the locked door in the partially open position. An alarm device can also be employed to indicate that the locked door is partially open.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Modern refrigerators and freezers are provided with magnetic low latching force means for normally holding the door or doors in sealing engagement with the cabinet or body portion of the refrigerator or freezer. These low latching force means provide a safeguard against entrapment of a child within the cabinet either during the use thereof or when abandoned.

It is also common practice to provide some refrigerated cabinets, particularly freezers, with positive locking means in order to prevent unauthorized access to the contents of the cabinet. Such positive locking means presents no particular problem from a child safety standpoint so long as no one unfamiliar with the possible hazard of a child being locked in the cabinet has access to the key or other means employed to operate the lock. However if children have access to the lock operating means, it is possible that one child may enter the storage compartment and the other playfully shut the door and lock the door thereby preventing the entrapped child from escaping.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has at its primary object the provision of a positive locking means for a refrigerated cabinet which is adapted to permit a partial opening of the cabinet door when in its locking position while at the same time preventing access to the contents of the cabinet.

More specifically there is provided a refrigerated cabinet, particularly a freezer, comprising a cabinet member and a closure member, a low latching force means for normally maintaining the closure member in sealing engagement with the cabinet member and manually operated means for locking the closure member in a closed position. The locking means is adapted as to permit limited opening of the closure member so as to provide ventilation of the interior of the cabinet while at the same time preventing access to the interior of the cabinet member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the accompanying drawing:

FIG. 1 illustrates a freezer cabinet incorporating the locking means of the present invention with the door shown in an open position;

FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view taken along line 2-4 of FIG. 1 showing the door in a closed and locked position;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 illustrating the operation of the present invention in permitting ventilation of the interior of the freezer with the locking means in an operative position; and

FIG. 4 illustrates a modification of the locking means.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With reference to FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawing there is illustrated a freezer comprising a cabinet member 1 defining a storage compartment 2. The storage compartment has an access opening at the front of the cabinet which is normally closed by a door 3.

Suitable low force latching means are provided for normally maintaining the door in a closed position relative to the cabinet. In the illustrated embodiment of the inven tion and as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawing, this low latching force means comprises a magnetic gasket 4 including a magnetic material 5 adapted to be attracted to a magnetic flange or face portion 6 of the cabinet surrounding the access opening and thereby normally holding the door 3 in a closed position for sealing the access opening to the storage compartment 2. It will be appreciated, of course, that other low latching force means may be substituted for the magnetic gasket. For example, there may be employed a magnetic latch or a low force overcenter latch mechanism in combination with the usual sealing gasket.

In the event the user desires to lock the door in its closed position thereby preventing unauthorized access to the foodstuffs stored within the compartment 2, there is provided a positive locking means generally indicated by the numeral 7. While this lock 6 may be manually operated by any suitable means as for example a key or a combination, the illustrated lock is a cylinder lock adapted to be operated by a key (not shown).

In accordance with the usual practice, the lock 6 is mounted on the door 3 or more specifically on the front panel 8 of the door with the body portion of the lock positioned within the space between the outer panel 8 and the inner panel 9 of the door. The lock also includes a locking element 10 having a hook shaped end portion 11 adapted to pass through a rectangular slot 12 in the flange 6 when the lock is in its unlocked position. For locking the door 3, the lock 6 is designed to permit a rotation of the element 9 to the position of the hook portion 10 as shown in FIG. 2 in which the hook portion overlaps the adjacent inner surface of the flange 6. In accordance with the present invention the locking element 9 is of sufficient length so that when the door is in its closed position as illustrated in FIG. 2 of the drawing, the hooked end portion 11 thereof is spaced rearwardly from the flange 6. By this construction even though the door is locked, it may be partially opened to the position shown in FIG, 3 before the hook end portion 11 actually engages the flange 6. This partial opening of the door 3 separates the gasket 4 from engagement with the front of the cabinet and permits air to circulate between the compartment 2 and the cabinet exterior through the spaces at the free, top and bottom sides of the door.

Thus even if a child should enter the freezer compartment 2 and the lock be turned to its locking position, the application of the usual small force necessary to break the latching force of the normal latching means as represented by the magnetic gasket will open the door far enough to ventilate the interior of the cabinet and prevent asphyxiation of the entrapped child. However, the lock prevents the door from opening to a point at which a hand or arm can be inserted into the compartment.

Means may be also provided for preventing the locked door from being closed once it has been partially opened. Such means may take the form of a simple wedge shaped stop 14 on the locking element 10 which has an inclined or camming surface 15 that will slide over the adjacent edge of the opening 12 as the locked door is opened due to the flexibility of the element and which will then be in a position to engage the adjacent portion of flange 6 and prevent the door from being closed so long as element 10 is in its locking position.

It is desirable also to provide warning means indicating that the locked door is ajar. A visual warning means may comprise a light turned on by a door operated switch. The light may be the usual bulb provided for illuminating the interior of the cabinet when the door is open or a special light on the face of the cabinet. Alternatively, a door operated switch means may be used to energize an audible alarm such as a buzzer, chime or the like. Alternatively or in addition to the operation of an audible or visual warning means, the means for controlling the warning means may deenergize the refrigeration system.

The warning control means may also be operated by the locking means so that it functions only when the door is ajar and locked. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, a warning control switch 16 may be mounted on the rear surface of flange 6 in a position to be operated by an arm 17 on the locking element 10 only when that element is in its locking position and the door has been partly opened.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by the Letters Patent is:

1. A refrigerator cabinet comprising a cabinet member including a storage compartment having a front flange defining an access opening to said compartment and a closure member for closing the access opening;

10W latching force means for normally holding said closure member in sealing engagement with said cabinet;

locking means including a rectangular slot in said flange and a lock mounted on said closure member; said lock including a rotatable element having an end portion adapted to pass through said slot when said element is in its unlocked position and to overlap an edge of said slot upon 90 rotation of said element to a locking position;

said element being of a length such that said end portion is spaced rearwardly from said flange when said closure member is in its closed position whereby said closure member can be partially opened when said element is in its locking position;

said element including a stop member forwardly from said end portion and rearwardly from said flange when said closure member is closed;

said stop member having a camming surface adapted to slide over an adjacent edge of said slot when said door is moved to a partially open position in which said element in said locking position engages said flange;

said stop member including a surface adapted to engage said flange when said closure member is in said partially open position and prevent subsequent closing of said closure member so long as said element is in its locking position.

2. The cabinet of claim 1 including warning means operated by said element in its locking position for indicating that said closure member is in said partially open posltion.

3. The cabinet of claim 1 in which said low latching force means is a magnetic gasket.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,608,711 9/1952 Moore 292262 'UX 2,966,053 12/1960 Mintz -93 3,055,193 9/1962 Smith 292DIG 71 3,270,536 9/1966 Sprung 70-89 3,381,992 5/1968 Friesen 292-87 3,406,386 10/1968 Hawkins 70 93 X 3,465,557 9/1969 Ryder 70 139 ALBERT G. CRAIG, 111., Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

70l39, 441; 29287, DIG 71; 340274 

